Europe’s Migration Crisis

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/01/opinion/europes-migration-crisis.html?ref=international&_r=0

Unusually calm seas in the Mediterranean and stagnant European economies are contributing to a perfect storm over migration.

With the euro zone’s economy sputtering, countries simply cannot cope with a surge of migrants and asylum seekers. Yet the European Union is dragging its feet on forging a more unified approach to migration that would distribute the financial and social costs of coping with refugees more fairly. Last month, the United Nations said the rising death toll of migrants desperately trying to reach Europe required urgent action.

Part of the problem is the European Union’s Dublin Regulation, which makes the country on which an asylum seeker first sets foot responsible for processing that person’s claim. Southern European countries are on the front lines, forced to deal with a disproportionate number of migrants arriving from North Africa.

Another problem is a treaty between Britain and France that allows British border guards to check passports in France. With Britain a prime destination for many migrants, Calais, the French port city, has found itself overwhelmed with new arrivals, mostly from Sudan and Eritrea.

Violent turmoil in Libya, a major departure point for migrants attempting to reach Europe across the Mediterranean, is causing panic, and traffickers are overloading boats. On Friday, 19 migrants were rescued from a boat that sank off the coast of Libya and had been carrying 270 people.

Meanwhile, Spain is blaming Morocco for a surge of some 1,000 migrants that made it across the Strait of Gibraltar on calm seas within a single 48-hour period last month. Morocco is reeling from its role as a staging ground for people attempting to reach Europe, many by climbing the razor-wire topped fences that surround Spain’s North African territories of Ceuta and Melilla.

Italy is at the breaking point. More than 100,000 people have arrived in Italy from North Africa since the beginning of this year. Italy says it has rescued 4,000 migrants over one weekend in August alone.

Only an end to terror and conflict in Syria, Iraq and Libya and a significant improvement in African living standards would stem the flow of desperate people from Africa and the Middle East who are reaching Europe. That, unfortunately, is not likely to happen in the immediate future. Europe has a crisis on its hands that is feeding the rise of populist anti-immigration parties and ugly xenophobia across the Continent.

The European Union needs to reform a migration policy that clearly is not working. Besides more and faster search-and-rescue operations at sea, Europe must provide legal avenues to safety, lest more migrants lose their lives on deadly journeys.

sputter 펑펑 하는 소리를 내다. 식식거리며 말하다

drag one's feet 꾸물거리다

traffickers  악덕상인, 불법거래 상인

Strait  해협

reel 휘청거리다, 크게 동요하다